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On December 6, 1917 two ships collided in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and caught fire. One was laden with tons of explosives and munitions for the First World War. Ninety minutes later the munitions ship exploded, killing 1,900 people. It was history's largest man-made explosion until the invention of atomic bombs. (This amateur video was created as a school project. Please excuse the typos contained in the video's text.) Tags:HalifaxexplosionAdded: 7th June 2008Views: 1479Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

It might surprise you to learn that the worst act of school violence in American history happened way back on Wednesday, May 18, 1927 at the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Michigan. The perpetrator was a school board official named Andrew Kehoe who was angered by a new tax levy. Kehoe planned his revenge for months, secretly hiding hundreds of pounds of explosives beneath the school. On the morning of May 18, 1927, Kehoe killed his wife and fire-bombed his farmhouse. As fire officials raced to the Kehoe farm, Kehoe drove to the school and ignited the hidden explosives. As rescuers and concerned parents arrived at the school, Kehoe then blew up his car, killing himself plus several others who had survived the initial explosion. Kehoe's grim total for the day: 45 people killed and 68 others wounded. Most of the fatalities were students between the ages of eight and 12. Tags:BathschoolexplosionAdded: 11th March 2009Views: 2544Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

On December 6th of 1917, the worst pre atom bomb explosion in history occured in Halifax NS. Two ships, the Imo, and munitions ship the Mont Blanc collided in the Halifax harbor, and within 10 minutes, the Mont Blanc was ablaze, and the explosion took place about 25 minutes after that, at approx. 9:05 AM. The top picture was taken about 15 to 20 seconds after the blast from 21 kilometers away, The bottom picture is 2 days following the devastation, with the Imo shipwrecked in the harbor about mid picture. It is estimated about 2000 lives were lost, and without the help of train dispatcher Vince Coleman, who lost his life in the blast, more would have died as a passenger train from here in Saint John was expected to arrive in Halifax momentarily. Mr. Coleman sent a warning via Morse Code stating, "Stop trains. Munitions ship on fire. Approaching Pier 6. Goodbye",and would not stop until he recieved a message back from the train. Mr. Coleman saved about 300 lives, but lost his own due to his heroism. Tags:halifaxexplosion1917Added: 15th April 2009Views: 1603Rating:Posted By:nbmike

The 1890's early 1900's the true pinnacle of America as a nation
The 1890's and early 1900's - until the advent of WWI was a period of exceptional economic expansion, and innovation, perhaps unbarrelled .today. The American empire of trade was at its zenith, and cities were growing rapidly. While the same decade saw an explosion of immigration to the United States from less economically prosperous lands, it was a period of vast wealth. The railroads, the dominance of the United States in South American markets and the Caribbean meant that industries were doing very well. Tags:GayNinetiesEarly1900sNewYorkCityNostalgiaAmericaEarlyMusicAdded: 18th April 2009Views: 1842Rating:Posted By:dalecaruso

The battlecruiser HMS Hood was the pride of the British navy between the two world wars. It was actually obsolete by the time the Second World War started, but it was urgently needed despite its shortcomings. On May 24, 1941, in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the Hood was engaged in an 11-minute skirmish with the German warships Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. A single 1700-pound armor-piercing shell from the Bismarck ripped into the Hood causing a giant fireball and a subsequent massive explosion. The Hood split into two sections and sank in just three minutes. About 150 minutes later, only three surviving British sailors from the Hood's crew of 1,415 were plucked from the cold Atlantic by the destroyer Electra: Ted Briggs, Robert Tilburn, and William Dundas. None was older than 20. The sinking of the Hood and the loss of more than 99.7 percent of its crew stunned the British public. The three survivors became reluctant celebrities and were always emotional when pressed to talk about that day in 1941. Dundas died in an automobile accident in 1965. Tilburn died in 1995. Briggs, the youngest of the three, died in 2008 at the age of 85. Briggs participated in a 2001 ceremony in which a memorial plaque was laid on the Hood's wreckage and debris field. Tags:BritishnavyHoodexplosionAdded: 27th July 2010Views: 3641Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

This is one of the great collection of coincidences of all time--or is it something else? You decide. At 7:27 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, 1950 in Beatrice, Nebraska, the West Side Baptist Church was reduced to smithereens when its gas furnace exploded. The explosion should have resulted in serious injury and/or fatalities to the 15 members of the church choir who normally met at 7:25 p.m. on Wednesdays for practice. However, by a fortuitous series of coincidences, no one was in the building when it exploded because every one of the 15 choir members was uncharacteristically late for one reason or another: The pastor (who actually lit the furnace but had returned home), his wife and daughter were late, as the daughter's dress was soiled and the wife was ironing another. A high-school sophomore was late due to difficulty with her geometry homework. Two sisters were late because their car would not start--and their alternate ride was the member with the geometry problem. Another member and her daughter were late as she had to attend to matters at her mother's house before arriving. Yet another member was delayed while writing an important letter. One member waited until the last possible minute before leaving due to the cold weather. Another member was taking care of his two young sons and did not realize until the last minute he was late. The pianist had planned to arrive 30 minutes early but fell asleep after dinner, which caused her and her mother (the choir's director) to be late. Two high-school students were late because one wanted to hear the end of a radio program; the other waited for her as they customarily went to practice together. Makes you think, doesn't it? Tags:churchexplosionchoirsavedcoincidenceAdded: 5th October 2010Views: 3781Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

The American battleship USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. About three-quarters of the ship's crew perished. Only 16 sailors onboard were completely uninjured. Accusations of sabotage led to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. (Evidence from modern investigations of the wreck suggests that a spontaneous internal explosion of coal near the ship's magazine likely caused the explosion--not sabotage.) Be that as it may, here is a photo of the USS Maine's baseball team. The man standing at the top left, J.H. Bloomer, was the only team member to survive the explosion. Tags:USSMainebaseballteamAdded: 18th September 2011Views: 2129Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

Disco Demolition Night--one of baseball's most ill-conceived promotions--caused a rare MLB forfeit on July 12, 1979. It occurred at Chicago's Comiskey Park between games of a Thursday doubleheader between the hometown White Sox and visiting Detroit Tigers. Popular Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl had been fired from radio station WDAI when he mentioned--on the air--that he listened to the album-oriented rock of rival station WLUP rather than his own station's fare--predominantly disco tunes. Dahl was subsequently hired by WLUP, known locally as "The Loop."
The 1979 White Sox were a mediocre team struggling to attract decent crowds, so the team's management was willing to try anything to try to draw new fans. Dahl, in conjunction with Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck), devised a promotion: Anyone who brought a disco record to the ballpark would be admitted for just 98 cents. The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl between games. Dahl hyped the event on The Loop, hoping that 12,000 people might show up--double the typical Thursday attendance at Comiskey Park. The turnout exceeded all expectations. An estimated 90,000 people turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium. When the box office stopped selling tickets, thousands of people still got in by climbing over walls.
It was an atypical baseball crowd to be sure. Broadcasters Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented on the "strange people" wandering throughout the stands. When the crate was filled with records, stadium staff stopped collecting them. The "fans" who still had records soon realized they were shaped like frisbees. A few began to throw records from the stands during the game.
After the first game, a 4-1 Tigers' win, Dahl, clad in army fatigues and a helmet, proceeded to center field. The crate containing the records was rigged with explosives. Dahl led the crowd in chants of "Disco sucks!" prior to triggering the explosion. When detonated, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass and a small fire began burning. Dahl triumphantly circled the warning track in a jeep before leaving the field.
Once Dahl left, the White Sox started warming up for the second game, but thousands of fans rushed the field. Some lit more fires. Others pulled down the batting cage and wrecked it. Bases were stolen and chunks of the outfield grass were ripped away. Most trespassers wandered around aimlessly, though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass, ran from security and police and threw records into the air. Veeck and Caray used the PA system to implore the fans to vacate the field, but to no avail. Eventually the field was cleared by police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and 39 were arrested for disorderly conduct. The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game could not be played. The next day American League president Lee MacPhail forfeited the second game to the Tigers on the grounds that the White Sox had not provided acceptable playing conditions. For the rest of the season, fielders complained about Comiskey Park's playing surface being substandard. No AL game has been forfeited since that night. Tags:baseballriotdiscoComiskeyParkAdded: 30th January 2012Views: 5662Rating:Posted By:Lava1964